“SPRING HEELED JACK STRIKES AGAIN”

Year 1891. In “The Times” of October 12, the population is informed that Spring Heeled Jack, the famous fictional character, is on the loose again in the streets, or rather in the skies of London. In the Society for Psychical Research the news produces a sudden stir. The members believed that Jack had been killed by a duck hunter. (This may serve you as a lesson: one should never trust duck hunters.) They rush up the stairs to the attic. From there they peer over the rooftops of London amid the smoke that flows from the innumerable chimneys. Dr. Lodge thinks he distinguish the evildoer perched on the cross that crowns the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral. But Gurney observes with his binoculars and denies it: it is certain that there is someone perched on top of the dome, however it is not Spring Heeled Jack but Gurney’s uncle, Joe. Suddenly, they hear a powerful flutter behind their backs and, when they turn around, they find themselves face to face with the sinister character, who threatens to throw at them a toad that he carries in his hand. The honorable members recoil in fright, with the exception of Gurney, who is not afraid of toads. Spring Heeled Jack and Edmund Gurney begin to walk in circles while still looking at each other. Jack decides to go for broke and throws the toad on Gurney. But Gurney crouches down and the frog grabs the head of Dr. Lodge, who screams in horror. Taking advantage that his opponent has been disarmed, Gurney pounces on him and tries to subdue him. He asks for help from his colleagues, but the frog keeps them at bay and they don’t dare approach. Finally, after a hard struggle, Gurney manages to overcome Jack, ties a thick rope to his foot and the other end to the lightning rod, waiting for the police to come and take charge of him. Floating on the roofs, tied to the lightning rod without possible way out, Heeled Jack promises revenge while the toad escapes jumping over the rooftops.